Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence and up-and-coming racer Cameron Ferre came to blows following their opening round matchup at the Auto Club Finals at Pomona, California today. Torrence, who won the contest, 3.73 to a 4.04, approached Ferre in the shutdown area, taking issue with Ferre’s starting line (entirely legal) tactic of deep staging to gain an edge out of the gate on the reigning champion.

The two initially shook hands, but Torrence’s demeanor quickly turned to rage as he explained his issue with the (again, entirely legal) deep-stage. When Ferre displayed his disagreement with Torrence’s opinion, Torrence shoved Ferre, face-first. Torrence quickly backed away, rearing back with a closed fist as the now-enraged Ferre came at him. The two were separated by a crewmember of Torrence’s team.

Said Torrence of the incident: “That kid right there ain’t got a chance, and he tries to play games, but it’s all good. You want to act like a little kid, you get treated like a little kid.”

Ferre offered his side of the situation, commenting, “we are out-gunned, we’re under-funded, we’re racing the team that’s racing for the world championship, but at the end of the day, I’m here to race cars. I work my butt off to go from sitting on the couch to doing this, and I work my life off to do this; I’m sorry that I have to go in deep to try to beat you. I treed the hell out of you, what do you want from me? If you want to go cry like you did two years when you lost of Brittany, then I’m sorry. We’re out here to try to better the sport, and that’s not bettering the sport. If you need to punch me in order to throw a fit, bring it on buddy. I’m just as big as you, we could have a pretty good wrestling match.”